There wasn't any more trouble in the Exceed village after Gajeel and Lily tossed the Dark Wizard jokers out of there. They rested for a bit, and, even after the fortnight the former guild spent away from action. It was nice. In those two weeks, Gajeel and Lily aggressively trained, honing their skills to ensure they'd never get caught up in a situation like what happened in the capital before.
Though, with all the free time to sit around and eat and keep watch over the village, came long periods where all Gajeel could think about was Levy, and what she was doing. How, or if, she was surviving.
He stood at the edge of the village, watching the nearby grove sway in the gentle breeze while the winds swung through the forest. He tugged his knee closer, resting his chin on it.
She'd have a lot to say, and write, about the Exceed village. She hadn't even really had the chance to see or meet them like he did on Edolas. That girl would be researching and asking all sorts of questions—while Gajeel was doing nothing, she'd have been letting her curiosity take over.
It all made him wonder what sort of game she was playing. She was trying to outsmart August, whom Gajeel was repeatedly told was the smartest guy in the Empire, just below Zeref himself. And he had the power to back it up.
Little Levy was going to take down the big bad Wizard King? Gajeel smirked at the thought. Sure she was, he just lamented he wasn't there to see her do it.
His guard shift ended. He sauntered through town, stuffing his hands in his pocket while he made his way toward the little cottage where he could get a bit to eat. Lily proudly took up Gajeel's post.
He took his seat, initially alone, before a retinue joined him, flanked by some guards as they led Queen Shaggotte to the table. The rest of the room cleared.
"I trust you're finding our accommodations suitable," the Queen said. "We've not had much interaction with humans before."
"Yeah, it's all good," Gajeel said.
A plate of steaming meats landed in front of him. Gajeel licked his lips and dug in. The Queen smiled at him.
"I wished to ask you a question, Gajeel, if that's okay."
"Sure thing, queenie."
The Exceeds at her sides tensed but said nothing. Gajeel meant no disrespect—he was just hungry.
"You're guarding us now, but, you could be with your friends," the Queen said. "Why is that? Don't they need your help?"
Gajeel gulped down the food he'd shoveled into his mouth. "Way I see it? We need to wait for an aftershock."
"Aftershock?"
"Yeah. Guess you guys ain't heard of earthquakes where you're from. When one bad thing happens, another, smaller bad thing has to follow. So I'm here to make sure you guys are all good through that aftershock."
"You think someone else would target us?"
"Why not? One dark wizard goes missing around here might attract some unwanted attention." Gajeel shrugged. "Plus I think Lily is enjoying himself."
"His presence has surely been missed. Thank you for reuniting us all."
Gajeel just gestured again with his hands and continued eating.
"Besides," Gajeel said. "I'm sure my friends are fine. They're tough, they can handle anything the Empire throws at them."
The soldiers descended on them from almost all sides, seeming to come down from the sky like great black drops of rain. They slammed into the earth in the open countryside and blocked all routes of escape, kicking up dirt all around the group of would-be-escapee Fairies.
Max reached out and clasped Laki's hand while Romeo ignited his fists in fire. Lisanna and Elfman transformed, quickly, and Flare held her hands up in defense. Tayaka took a step closer to the group.
Max gritted his teeth. Damn. Had they been waiting for Gildarts to get out of the way or something? Just as the old man was getting out and about to go chase a lead on where Master Makarov had gone, these idiots descended.
"The Dragon Division again," Elfman said under his beastly breath.
"Yeah," Max said. "Must've been tracking us for a bit, and now they've finally found their best chance to attack."
"There's so many of them," Flare said.
The Quartum Army soldiers' eyes flared red but did not move further, save for those parting to allow the true assailant to make their way forward. Max felt a shiver try to run through him but held it back. Laki tensed and squeezed his hand.
"Thanks for not making the chase too hard, it would've been a real pain in the ass to keep listening to you all try and get away," said Cobra, of the Dragon Division. "Especially you, little boy. Your thoughts are so loud I could hear them from the capital. Reminds me of that Natsu idiot from a few years back."
"Don't talk about him," Romeo said, swinging to face Cobra.
Cobra sneered. Max held Romeo back, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.
The Quartum Army was one thing. They could probably take out the squadron that was immediately around them. Cobra? Now that was a whole different situation.
It'd take all of their combined efforts to bring him down, but they had to deal with the distraction of the others.
Their best chance was to isolate Elfman and Flare, their two strongest wizards, into a fight with Cobra, while Max and Romeo, who had some of their best spread attacks, could take on the Quartum Army. That'd leave Laki and Lisanna to look after a petrified Tayaka, whose orb floated precariously around her.
Of course, that was a good plan in concept.
"And it won't work," Cobra said, tapping his forehead while his venomous eyes locked on Max. "I can hear everything you're going to think about, know every tactic you make before you announce it."
"I bet," Max muttered.
Cobra raised his hand. "I'm going to enjoy watching my soldiers rip you apart. Boy am I happy Zash sent me after you idiots. Get them!"
He swung his arm down. The soldiers charged. Cobra hung back as Max stepped forward and blasted sand in a massive radius around them, knocking the soldiers back. Cobra wasn't affected by the blast at all. He simply waved it off, then stepped into an attack Elfman launched.
Cobra evaded it with ease and slammed his fist into Elfman's gut. Lisanna dove and attacked Cobra's flank that he dodged, and even managed to swing away from one of Flare's hair-whip attacks.
He blasted Elfman back. Poison Dragon Slayer magic spewed from his hands. Elfman charged once again, this time transforming into his Leopard Beast form, moving with even better speed, but still Cobra dodged. The vile Dragon Slayer laughed.
Laki stepped up next to Max.
The Quartum Army descended once more.
"You ready?" Max asked.
"Always," Laki said.
"Sand Wave!"
"Wood-Make: Violent Approach!"
Max's sand shot toward the approaching soldiers, completely masking Laki's cannon balls of wood that slammed into several of them, obliterating a few. Yet still more came through, forcing the two Fairies to leap away from one another.
"Sand Slash!"
"Wood-Make: The Distance Between Two is Forever!"
Max battered back a few that pursued him right into Laki's attack.
They continued their battle as such, ping-ponging their opponents between one another as they had for years. They survived on that tactic, finding out just what each other's strengths and weaknesses could be and finding ways to complement one another. They'd slowly been integrating Romeo into their repertoire, but the mention of Natsu set the boy off.
It was his fatal flaw. Mention of the Fire Dragon Slayer set Romeo off something fierce, making the boy feel like he had something to prove. In that instance, it was diving headlong to defend Tayaka, who was mustering as much courage as she could find in the face of an overwhelming enemy.
She'd become stronger—much stronger—but her experience in the field was still limited. What few Imperials she'd faced were common thugs and soldiers, not hardened Dragon Slayers.
Max slid back. Lisanna flopped to the ground next to him, quickly recovering. Max helped get her back up.
"Cobra isn't giving us any easy hits," Lisanna said. "We need to deal with all of these other guys before we can really take him on."
"Doing my best," Max said.
"I know," Lisanna said. She clasped his soldier. "And you're doing great. We're going to win, Max, we just need to—"
"Poison Dragon Slayer Roar!'
"Wood-Make: Wood Wall!"
The wall appeared just before the blast did, but its surge of power still broke through and sent Max and Lisanna flying. Max slid back while Lisanna easily recovered in her cat-form. Laki ran toward the battle as Cobra had abandoned Elfman and Flare for the distracted duo of Fairies. The Quartum Army followed in his command.
Romeo slammed through a few. Max blasted a few more back while Lisanna forced Cobra into a chase. Elfman was just behind Cobra, racing to keep up. Flare managed to cut Cobra off and as he tried to get through her defenses, Elfman almost hit him. Cobra just barely got out of the way.
Max returned his focus to the onslaught of Dragon Slayers. Laki recovered from a sharp strike to the face and skewered on with her magic. Max knocked even more back from her, giving her a reprieve.
The cat-and-mouse game with Cobra continued and helped form a perimeter for Laki, Max, Romeo, and Tayaka to waylay the Quartum Army, who seemed relentless. Each one that went down brought yet another one up. It was almost as if they were able to recover from their wounds—which, Max knew, made sense. They were completely autonomous, unable to sense pain, so total destruction was their only way to victory. They would not submit until they were dead and done for.
Max tried not to stay right at Laki's side, as it would make them easy targets. But he yearned to be by her, to know she was okay. She was all that anchored him to that world of ever-growing darkness; even the return of the Tenrou crew could hardly abate his feelings of deep, deep sorrow. Yet in her, there was a spark. There was something to hold to.
Not to mention, she was simply the best. Smart—as smart as anyone—and fatally gorgeous, with a voracious sense of self, all balanced by a bit of wickedness that shone through in her combat.
Max almost hit the ground, dead-tired, as the last of the Quartum Army finally fell. Laki sprinted over and caught him, helping him back to his feet.
"Come on, we can take him!" Romeo exclaimed, charging in toward the scene of the battle with Cobra.
Who was, frankly, toying with the Fairies.
He shoved Elfman away to clear a path for Flare's net attack to almost land but it was all for not, as he grabbed her hair, yanked on it, and elbowed her hard in the face, knocking her out. Lisanna was already down for the count at Cobra's feet. He stepped off of her to leap into the air and block Elfman's strike.
Max and Laki combined their ensuring magic toward Cobra who blasted it aside with a laugh then slammed his head into Romeo's hand as Romeo attempted to punch him. Cobra kicked Romeo away.
Max exchanged fast blows with Cobra while the Dragon Slayer dodged each one, even as Max shut off his mind from thinking about attacks and just wanted to hit the damn guy.
"The sand betrays you," Cobra said, "as the earth does your little girlfriend."
He dodged one of Laki's attacks which slammed into Max.
"No!" Laki exclaimed. "Max, I'm sorry!"
Max waved her off, trying to reassure her. Cobra blitzed toward Laki. Max used the sand around him to shoot forward, but Cobra quickly spun around, using his arm, which had become akin to a talon, to grab Max by the face and slam him to the ground.
"Come on," Cobra said, "oldest trick in the book."
Someone slammed him away. Elfman, thank goodness. Laki rushed over and helped Max get up again as Elfman was punched hard across the face once, twice, and then shoved back. Laki touched her forehead to Max's while Cobra unleashed a great howling laugh. Romeo approached.
"I ain't giving up," he said.
Max held Laki tight, but in doing so, managed to pull himself to his feet. Cobra opened his arms, smiling at the coming Fairies, all worn down, all about ready to fall over, defeated.
"Good. Because I'm just getting started."
Cobra's aura flared around him, but before he could move, something caught his attention. Something small, so small it was hard to make out, drifted into Max's line of sight. Cobra glowered at it, but before he could ignore the small thing, it flipped around, revealing its true shape:
A tiny tarot card, which, instantly, lit up, and exploded right in his face.
From the smoke of the explosion, Cobra emerged, his roar filling the surrounding area but it was quickly silenced by a powerful kick right to the face that sent him flying. He attempted to recover but two more cards were on his arms and bound them behind his back, opening him for a sharp punch to the face and then another card getting slapped on his chest, one that brought down a thunderstorm on Cobra.
Cana landed between her friends, cards drifting in the air around her as she held tightly to the deck in her hands. The wind caught up to her, almost knocking her skirt up. She settled it down. Her hair, done up in a bit of a raggedy ponytail, bobbed against her back. Her bag was discarded, set aside with some small healing items she got from town.
Cobra swiped away the smoke rising around him, his furious eyes glowing a deep red.
"Everyone still breathing?" Cana asked.
"Yeah," Max said. "Where—where'd you come from?"
"Decided to head back early after dad got lost," Cana said. "And saw the Quartum Army heading this way. Thanks for dealing with them, but I can take it from here."
"You?" Cobra asked. "I don't think you can."
"I beg to differ, asshole," Cana said. She raised her hand pulling three cards from the deck.
"Oh, this'll be too easy," Cobra said. "Think I can't hear whatever is on those cards? The moment you read them off in your mind is the moment I know all about them."
"So that's your power?"
"And he's a Dragon Slayer," Laki said.
"So's Natsu and he's an idiot," Cana said. "But if it's card reading I can't do, I guess you're right, I can't use my magic to its full potential, can I? Oh well, I guess I can still throw cards at you all day long!"
Cana swung her arm out, and Cobra darted away from the cards. Cana grinned.
Were all Dragon Slayers that dumb?
Cobra must've heard the thought, as he immediately tried to change course, but it was too late. Cana knew way ahead of time what the cards she threw were—what all the cards she had ready were. There wasn't a need to think of them at all.
All she had to do was cast some spells.
"Wind Edge!"
A powerful gust of wind of wind buffeted Cobra.
"The Prayer's Fountain!"
The ice magic slammed into Cobra before he could see it coming. Cana lurched. Cobra darted back, forcing her into close combat with him. Two punches to the face and a swift kick sent Cana back. Her head spun. Stars burst around her. Damn, he was quick.
She bounced once off the ground and pushed herself back up. Cobra sauntered over and grabbed Romeo by the head. He opened another talon by the boy as if to rip open his throat.
"Alright," Cobra said. "Don't wanna think about your cards? Go ahead and throw one at this kid, then, without thinking. Wait, but what if it's the wrong one? What if it kills him? He's practically on death's door already."
Cana set her jaw. She stared Romeo down, who gave her a nod, despite how Cobra held him.
Once, she doubted herself, and he almost ran away from her friends. Had she done so, maybe she could've been around to protect those who hadn't gone on the island. Then again, then she wouldn't have gone to the island in the first place and never would have fought to defend the ones there from Grimoire Heart.
Doubt? Nah. Cana didn't wanna do that anymore.
She drew a card out from her side pouch. Her teleportation card. It'd get her right in front of Cobra, perfectly staging her for another card she had hidden away in her hand: Summoned Lightning, which would zap him right away.
Cana hung her arm back, and with her full might, flung it right at Cobra, then grasped her arm, feeling power swell within it. Cobra barked a laugh.
"Stupid bitch, I read your mind! Come on and use your lightning, zap us both!"
The card cut across the sky, then landed harmlessly at Cobra's feet. No spell. He snarled, and as he looked up, Cana gave him no moment to think.
"Fairy Glitter!"
Radiant exploded around her, catching everyone in its glow. A few shrieked, but others stayed perfectly still as the magic of Fairy Tail shot from Cana in a direct line toward their enemy. The radius of the spell was large enough to catch Romeo, and its power would kill him.
If, of course, he wasn't a valiant member of Fairy Tail like Cana.
Though the guild was broken, their memory tarnished and begotten to time, so long as one member of Fairy Tail drew breath, the guild was not dead. The spirit of Mavis Vermillion would live on in some way.
Cana just happened to be one of those ways.
The spell slammed into Cobra, hitting him so hard it caught him in a singular blast that struck him from all sides and forced the Dragon Slayer to his knees.
Cana slumped her arm to the side, then used her free hand to cast cards around him. They landed in a pentagram, and large logs of wood appeared and locked Cobra in place. Cobra rested against them, groaning. She approached him, flinging her hair out of the way while she summoned the cards she'd used back to her hand.
"Alright asshole," Cana said, "get talking."
"Think this is enough to get me to say anything?" Cobra spluttered.
"Remember those zaps?" Cana asked.
"You wouldn't torture me," Cobra said. "You're a bunch of soft little Fairies."
"Sure. Tell that to my dad when he rolls around. He's the reason you came when you did, right? So you could avoid him? Just imagine how happy he'll be when he finds out what you did to his little girl." Cana squatted in front of him. Cobra snarled at her. She raised a card, flipping it around, revealing it to be a Call Dad card. "I use this and he's here in a millisecond. Wanna gamble on that? Wanna read my mind on that? Go ahead. No more lies, no more tricks. Just the truth. Got it?"
Cobra held his gaze until at last he gave up.
"My Captain, Zash Caine, knows where all you little Fairies are. Someone gave him that info."
"Who?"
Cobra smiled. "You really wanna know? It's a little friend of you idiots. I was told by—"
His voice faded, muted, and slowly, a mist began to envelop him. Then came the chill.
Then came the dread.
"One of the three Great Fairy Spells belongs to a young drunk? This I cannot abide!"
The voice was all-encompassing, within their hearts, surrounding them everywhere they looked. Cana flung the Call Dad card to the ground, pulsing magic into it.
A form began to take shape in the mists: a man, with flowing hair and a long beard, with a massive robe to match.
"It can't be," Laki muttered. "Is that…August?"
The man attempted to take a step forward, but, at once, was shattered into a billion tiny pieces, and the mists faded with it. Whatever pull August had on them disintegrated, and in his place, stood the familiar raggedy man: Gildarts. He rolled his shoulders back, expression still roiling with rage, as he looked to everyone.
"We good?" he asked.
Cana picked up her card. "Thanks for the save, dad."
"That magic power was off the charts," Gildarts said. "I'm surprised you all managed to hang on." He surveyed the group closer. "What happened? Was there a fight? Cana! Are you okay?"
"More than okay, she kicked Cobra's ass!" Max exclaimed.
Cana waved him off. "It was nothing. Just had to rescue these knuckleheads."
"Did my training come in handy?" Gildarts asked, folding his arms with a knowing grin.
Cana smacked him upside the head. "Shut up, old man. We better get moving before August tries to find us again. I guess Fairy Glitter is off the table for now, I can't believe he has a way to track it."
She rubbed her arm. Once a gift, quickly a curse.
Seemed to be the way things worked in the Twilight Empire.
Lucy rested her head in her hands outside the massive library of Mercurius. Her eyes were tired and strained. She dreamed not about Lullaby or Zeref's demons, but aboutwords. If she closed her eyes, she could see pages and pages of black ink on parchment running endlessly.
She only lifted her head, still looking blearily into the hallway's light, at the sound of soft footsteps approaching from opposite directions, but intentionally heading her way. Lucy managed to pick herself up, smiling at the two.
Kip rubbed her arm.
"You need to rest," he said.
Levy smiled at her. "You're tearing yourself apart, Lu."
"Whatever you've gotta get done isn't in a rush," Kip said.
Lucy nodded, making sure to choose her words carefully. The walls had ears.
"I guess I'm just a go-getter," Lucy said.
She couldn't say how much she preferred this research to wedding planning or being anywhere remotely near Axel.
"We can cut into a little bit of the time here with some training," Kip said. "How's that?"
Levy glanced at him, curiously for a moment. Lucy bit the inside of her cheek.
"Yeah," she said, trying to hide her wariness. What was Levy worried about?
"Good. Still, quite a few Star Dresses to get through. Go on, rest up, then. I've got to, unfortunately, catch up with Axel about a few things."
Lucy smiled and nodded while he headed out. Levy scooted a little closer to her, nudging her shoulder.
"Feeling okay?" Levy asked.
"Yeah, is everything fine with Kip?" Lucy asked.
"He," Levy said, and sighed, "hasn't seemed himself, has he?"
Lucy hadn't really noticed a change. Everything they did was practically the same, except for her new dive into Lullaby. He didn't seem bothered, or all that excited, about what she was up to.
Levy had to know something, and to say out loud would be a massive risk. Their schedules were so horribly misaligned that Lucy rarely had a chance to get Levy alone.
"He's right about one thing, though, you do need to get some rest," Levy said. "Go on."
"Wanna walk with me?"
"Can't. On my way to a meeting with Invel and Alok about a few things. August's been letting me have a bit more independence."
Lucy waggled her eyebrows. "Oh, good for you, girl!"
She waved to Levy, then started. Her legs were far more willing to move after standing, as compared to being sat for so long while she studied. She rolled her shoulders, tried to forget about Kip, Levy, and all the rest, and thought only of the nice bath she'd take.
Until she rounded a corner and someone quickly grabbed her, gagged her, and her consciousness faded away.
Meredy leaned against the tall, thick tree that'd been used as cover for the gaggle of dark wizards that were eating the dirt on which they'd been soundly defeated. The rest of Crime Sorciere was moving on, but she wanted to stay behind, to investigate something she thought she'd noticed not long before their battle got started.
It was yet another simple one. Dark wizards were powerful when unified under a single objective, but mostly when driven by a singularly dark purpose. Meredy was unsure what that was, still, despite how many times they'd beaten back a former dark guild.
It reminded her of the days before the Twilight Empire when she, Ultear, and Jellal worked viciously to put away all the same wizards that were cropping up all over the place. Made her sick to think about having to redo all of their work by herself.
She pushed away from the tree, following a small path hardly beaten into the ground at all, through some thick overgrowth and old foliage. It wound away from the fighting and led to a small burrow that ran deep underground.
Meredy stared into the tunnel, her arms folded.
Yes, she did remember this place.
It was an old rebel base, before even the days that Hisui was around. And it was still in operation, based on the faint light she was seeing at the bottom. All non-wizards, all expert combatants.
And, without a doubt, the target of the Dark Wizards. It was, too, just about what she expected.
She had to get word to Hisui about it. The pattern was forming at an alarming rate.
All of the recent Dark Wizard attacks were pointed right at former, or operated, rebel bases.
Natsu and Happy were at the head of the walking party through the forest. It still hadn't gotten too dense, even though the smells of everything were kind of overwhelming. Wendy and Carla were conversing with Irene at the back of the pack while Erza, Gray, and Yukino stood warily by. Natsu scratched the back of his head.
He didn't remember Edolas having the most exciting landscape in the world, only a different one. Getting to walk around on the ground a bit more was slightly less exciting than when they got the chance to fly, but Jellal was going to be hard to find while riding on one of those big Legion creatures.
It only bothered Natsu that they were taking so long to get to Jellal. He figured the guy would be in the middle of the action, trying to get his head in places it didn't belong. He seemed that kind of person. If that'd been the case, they'd get Jellal, get back to Earth-land, and keep better tabs on Lucy and what was going on with her mission.
It wasn't the same being in Edolas without her; in fact, it wasn't the same being on Earth-land without her, either. Their group was incomplete. Their guild was incomplete.
Happy lazily sat on Natsu's shoulders. Even he didn't have access to his Aera magic like usual. It must've been dreadful to not be able to use his wings. It'd be like if Natsu couldn't walk. Eh. Maybe not that extreme.
He walked past a small clearing for a moment, then stopped and checked it out further. There was a building nearby, a ramshackle one at that. It was hardly standing, with a sign hanging lazily, but securely, over the main door. The group caught up to him, also inspecting it.
"That looks…familiar," Natsu said.
Happy tapped his mouth with his paw. "Smell familiar?"
"Just looks it."
"Then Jellal likely isn't there," Erza said.
"But if it's familiar, maybe it's because we know people in there that can help," Wendy said. "People we can trust."
"Who else is there in Edolas we can trust?"
Natsu continued to squint until that familiarity playing in his brain finally clicked in place and he sped toward the door.
"We found them!" Natsu exclaimed, hurtling through the foliage. Happy clung onto his shoulder for dear life.
"Who?" Gray shouted as the group followed.
Natsu burst into the clearing and slammed open the door to a tiny tavern-like space. Tables and chairs were set up properly, and it retained that comfortable atmosphere like before. A few hallways led into the back of the building for living quarters and the bar, empty, remained standing.
"Fairy Tail!" Natsu shouted.
His voice echoed into the empty room. And it stayed that way, even as his voice reverberated. Happy slid onto the ground beside Natsu.
The others stood in the doorway behind Natsu, who let his arms down.
"Where is everyone?" Natsu asked.
Someone tapped on the door. Everyone turned. Irene was there, sunlight spilling over her, as she pointed to a notice that everyone missed.
"In my time here, I learned the written language of Edolas," she said. "Tricky, at first. Anyway, this says they've moved away from this hall to one closer to the royal city."
"They were always on the move before," Wendy said.
"Guess they settled down after everything went down seven years ago," Gray said.
Natsu inspected the room. There weren't many oddities to it all, save for the odd amount of glass baby bottles that were around in the back of the bar. Who was shacking up and having kids? Jeez. Saving the world must've really done a number on some of them.
"We'll keep going, then," Erza said, "and maybe run into them along the way."
"Hold on, maybe we can use their help," Natsu said. "If they're still in the forest, near the royal city, then we aren't too far apart." He clapped. "Happy and I can go get them. Edolas Natsu had some car, I think, we can use to get around faster."
"No, Natsu, we stick together on this," Erza said.
"But we can use their help!"
Erza's stony expression hardened. She used only her eyes to look back, over her shoulder, toward Irene, who still stood in the doorway bathed in shadow.
Natsu understood. He didn't want to, but Erza always made it easy for them.
"If you're worried about me, don't be," Irene said. "I won't do anything, or care if you get your counterpart mages here and involved. It would be better for you all, long-term."
"We've made our decision," Erza said. She turned and brushed by Irene.
"Then you're worried there are other enemies out there, aren't you?" Irene asked.
Erza said nothing. Natsu kept his mouth shut, too, and followed the others out of the building.
"There aren't," Irene said. "Not anymore."
Natsu kept going. The woman was like…an evil,evilErza. She used her mind more than her muscle where Erza had so much muscle sometimes she didn't really even need to think. It was why she got along so well with everyone else in the guild.
Irene was up to something, of that Natsu was certain. Yukino seemed set on it, too, as she hovered behind Irene while the group made their way.
He held faith they'd see the others again before they were gone. He especially wanted to see just who the heck the crazy people were having kids.